Get High Or Die II- The Sequel!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it´s been a hectic month! I´ve had clinics every day since the start of July so haven´t had any time at all to post on my blog- I apologise sincerely(ish). Over the next week or so, I will try to catch up on all the stuff I´ve been up to in July with pics etc, but first let me tell you about my comp in Punta- the Get High Or Die II.

After last year´s success everyone was psyched to do another one so we organised it last May and have been waiting for a windy weekend ever since!!!!! After the longest waiting period in competition history, the wind finally arrived on a Saturday and it was a goer!!!! With a full complement of 30 plus riders, this year´s event took on a truly international flavour when Irish windsurfing champion/legend Oisin Van Gelderen booked a last minute flight to join in the festivities.

Arriving at Punta early in the morning, conditions looked pretty awesome already as Oisin and myself set up the competiton area and when the first heat hit the water it was immediately obvious that the level at Punta has improved dramatically from the last event with everyone boosting huge airs. It turned into a stalled forward frenzy as friends faced each other in heats determined to out-stall each other. Notable performers were Machel, Jaume, Ilya and, of course Yannick with his clean doubles. Others who impressed were diminutive Victor Moncloa who wowed the spectators with a huge variety of cleanly-landed aerial moves, Paul O´Loughlin who sails twice a year but always goes BIG, Oisin with some pretty close double attempts and Ben (captain cannonball) with huge pushies and. of course, fantastic crashes.

The wind stayed with us all day and we manged to complete a full round of competition plus three expression sessions. The idea of the Get High is to bring together all the "local" riders and get them to push their own personal limits and also, and perhaps even more importantly, to have a real fun day together and I think we achieved this once again- the atmosphere was fantastic all day (and night) long.
When we finally wrapped up the flags at 6.30 it was off to the U Turn for the BBQ and prizegiving where the carnival atmosphere continued.... the winners were as follows:
WAVE COMP.

1st place Yannick Anton

2nd place Ilya Escario

3rd place Jaume Coll

EXPRESSION SESSION.

Most radical air Yannick Anton (double forward)

Highest air Victor Moncloa (back loop)

Sickest wipeout Ben Oliver (double pushloop to backsplat to semi-unconsciousness)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made this event possible; Extreme Animals for the amazing event T Shirts (and their patience). Wilagre Clothing for their prize donations. Gilbert Bara for the photography. Big Pieter for the car stickers that I see everywhere on the island now. The legendary Eric Gibson for the unique trophies. Bouke and Peggy for the use of the U Turn for the prizegiving. Captain Cannonball for motivating the lazy locals, and everyone who took part and made it what it was supposed to be- a fun day with friends....thank you all, til next year.

I struggled a little for decent video footage, most of the best sfuff (doubles, Ben´s wipeout etc) were missed but I stuck it all together anyway so you can get an idea of the good times we had that day. Enjoy...

Get High Or Die II!!!!!!!!

Well, it all happened on Saturday- we finally (after a record-breaking wait of 18 months) ran the "2010" Get High Or Die comp in Punta! It went off!!!! I will write a report when I get the video done, in the meantime you can check out the photos of the event here... www.picasaweb.google.com/100420044561704498288 .

And so it begins...

Summer is officially here! The wind has kicked in properly, we´ve had some outstanding sailing this last week all over the north of the island and it looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. Good news for Patricia, who is here for a few weeks and is spending a week with me for an "introduction to wavesailing"! It´s been quite an introduction so far, logo-high Punta on 4.7 and mast-high Puerto Lajas down-the-line heaven on 4.2! She has dealt with everything the conditions have thrown at her so far (taking a day off today because of bleeding hands, though) and her confidence in big waves has improved no end. No pictures, I´m afraid, as I´ve been right by her side the whole time, but I´ll try and get some in the next few days.
With the forecast looking pretty epic for Punta at the weekend, there´s a good chance I may hold the Get High Or Die II on Saturday or Sunday, so be prepared for the carnage which will certainly ensue... check out the vid of last year´s event and watch this space.

Rest n Recuperation.

It´s been fairly windless since my last post (there were a couple of half-decent days), which is good news for my ongoing shoulder injury. The past week has been glorious weather, calm and hot, and there has been a great swell, quite unusual for this time of year. I´ve been out on the SUP every day this week in some fanatastic conditions at Majanicho and Rocky Point. The wind is supposed to pick up now so I think it´s time to hang up the SUP for summer. On the last day of no wind, I tried to do some video by balancing the camera on the dashboard while I was out and hoping it caught some of the rides- the results were not too bad, although the quality is poor as we were quite far out and I had to zoom on maximum and guess where I´d be. It was probably the worst day of the week, pretty choppy and a bit of wind, and I felt a bit out of control but here´s the footage...

.....wicked fun. Looks like I should be getting some windsurfing again soon, pray the shoulder holds out...

Vulcanville!

Two weeks ago (yeah, two weeks before I got the chance to sit down and write it up on my computer, what a slacker) I spent a few days with Ville from sunny Finland! He can only sail there for 6 months of the year, due to the ice and lack of sunlight, so he came over to our warmer climes to try and crack the vulcan and open the door to more freestyle moves. He has struggled with the manouevre for quite a while now so the challenge was to re-program him, get rid of his old (bad)habits, and send him on his way to vulcan-success!

As usual, the wind didn´t want to play along with our finely-laid plans and we ended up having only one real good vulcan-training session from the four days we had together (very atypical for the time of year, especially down in Sotavento). However, we made great progress in that one day and he gave it 110% all day so that, by twilight, his technique had changed drastically and he was starting to slide instead of the magnificent head-plants he was wooing us with earlier.

He got better and better as the day went on until fatigue stopped play, and we headed home safe in the knowledge that he would be sailing out of his first vulcan the very next day........
.....unless, of course we arrived at Centre 2 and there were head-high waves rolling in along the entire length of the beach, which is (obviously) precisely what happened. Yep, conditions were totally un-ideal for vulcans, but, fortunately, they proved perfect for an introduction to wavesailing- perfect for learning to bottom turn and cutback, something which Ville admits he was leaving for the distant future. In the end, despite the disappointment of not finishing our vulcan project, he had a great sail as we blasted along waves together, and probably learnt as much on this day as any other. He was grinning like a cheshire cat when we finally trudged back to the centre to give his gear back after a four-hour waveathon!

He has since reported (from tropical Finland) that he is now right on the verge of sailing away from his first vulcan!

I managed to get a couple of stunts in myself on the last day, before my shoulder pain made sailing impossible again. I´m now planning to take a total break until my next classes in June to give the arm a chance to recover properly, instead of sailing around injured and under- achieving big-time. Hopefully, a few weeks of rest (and SUP) will sort it out and I may still be able to salvage something from this year freesailing-wise. Here are a couple of pics from the Sunday, taken by the lovely Kati...

The Puravidaboardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic.

I´ve finally got enough time to sit down and tell you about the Easter Clinic! On Saturday 16th April, 10 keen windsurfers and their entourage of windsurfing widows, friends and kids all converged on our little island for a week of windsurfing hedonism. After arriving at the airport with 10 tonnes of kit, we whisked them off to their luxury villa in Corralejo, soon to be dubbed "the big brother house". Luckily this year, arrival day was greeted by light winds so the frantic chase around the island in search of wind of last year was not repeated and instead everyone settled into their new pad, enjoying the pool and jacuzzi, and tucking into a BBQ later that evening.
DAY 1.
With the wind forecast to pick up from the SW later that afternoon, the troops headed to Punta where we spent the day at the lagoon on beginners boards and SUPing in scorching sunshine and very little wind. By 5pm most of the gang were burnt enough, so headed back into town, but a few of the diehards, swayed by my unflagging optimism that the wind would eventually come in, hung around for another half hour and were rewarded with a glorious evening session at Punta, 5.3 wind from the left......the stage was set for the following day when the real wind was supposed to arrive!
DAY 2.
As forecast, day 2 dawned with the wind shaking the rooftops and we all headed off to Punta again for an introduction to waves. By the time we got out on the water, the wind had turned a little too west and was very gusty- not ideal, but it was a great day for everyone to have a go in good-sized waves. Everyone coped remarkably well in the 3m+ waves. Today belonged totally to Simon who stepped up to the plate and gave it 100% in his quest to crack the forward loop. His rotation was excellent and he was getting round onto his back straight away, which means he pretty much has it nailed. Well done mate!
With the wind still flukey and the waves getting uglier, an executive decision was taken (by me) to shoot over to Glass for a carve gybe session, something that everyone wanted to improve on. ( A couple of the lads went with Jim to La Caleta where they scored perfect down-the-line wavesailing). We were greeted by mirror flat water and strong cross-off wind- perfect, and everyone got into it and there were some great improvements made by everyone during this session. Tom proved to be a real dark horse here, proving that he didn´t actually need any tuition as his gybes were already better than mine, haha. Ryan also proved to be a smooth model of consistency, effortlessly cranking out gybe after perfect gybe. Check out the bit of video from that session....


More Windsurfing Videos
DAY 3.
Day 3, as predicted, dawned windless, and many people opted to spend this "free day" with their families or partners. Not me and Hobbs, though, no siree. I took Si out for his first ever SUP session (see previous posts). Nuff said, one of the highlights of the whole trip for both of us. Here´s the vid again in case you missed it...


More Surfing Videos
DAY 4.
Day 4 and the wind was still fairly light so I decided to work on tacking with everyone. Many people don´t appreciate how much can be learnt on a big board in light winds, and everybody´s tacking improved tons in this session. Mark and Emmet were tacking like champions, Jim discarded his old hand and foot habits to turn into one of the smoothest tackers I´ve seen, and Chris, too, sorted out his sail change/hand movements and also wooed us with an impressive array of freestyle moves. Wicked! Emily spent the entire session flying along, and showing the boys how it´s done, tacking with style. Even young H was seen blasting back and forth along the beachline, and Sarah pulled off her first heli-tack (on the first attempt). You may notice that our forward-loop king Si Hobbs is absent in this video. This was not because he deemed conditions unworthy, rather that he overindulged the night before, as is usual at least once during his Fuerte trips, and was still asleep fully-clothed at the time....


More Windsurfing Videos
DAY 5.
We all had high hopes for day 5, with great waves at Flag and the wind forecast strong NW. Unfortunately, the wind never quite made it as strong as it should have been so most of us were slightly underpowered for most of the time- a real shame as it was bump n jump paradise, with waves up to 2m on all the reefs at Flag. The lighter sailors had a great sail again, though, and Mark (who had never been anywhere near waves like that before) had his best day of the clinic, quickly getting to grips with the conditions and sailing the bigger stuff on the outside reefs with myself. I was buzzing as much as he was to see him out in stuff he never believed he was capable of sailing in. His attitude will get him a long way in this sport, he´s already learning very quickly indeed. Today´s other notable performance was Alan, for his bottom turn on a logo-high wave straight onto the dry rock stacks on the right-hand reef at Flag, and his ensuing escape, through all the barreling waves and lava rocks to be spat out on the beach at the other side. When I got there to help, he was still smiling, though. Hats off to señor Blanco!
In the afternoon, we headed over to Glass for some flat water action, where Emily once again showed everyone how to plane non-stop in light to moderate winds. She pretty much never stopped planing the whole holiday, and is getting closer and closer to her carve gybes now. Keep up the good work, Em.
Jim and Rob went over to Lobos when we headed off to Glass and got a half-decent starboard down-the-line session in the legendary right-hander there which only works a few times a year. Good call.
DAY 6.
With the wind forecast to drop on Friday, another executive decision was made, this time to head down to Sotavento. This paid dividends as the wind increased throughout the day and it turned into a perfect day to finish off those carve gybes. Steve´s gybes became mega-consistent today, Simon cracked one-handed duck gybes (he learnt duck gybes on the last clinic), and Sarah finally bid adieu to her footstrap-phobia- a great accomplishment and a definite milestone in her sailing.
Sailing-wise, that was it for most of the group as they were heading back early Saturday morning. Imagine the mood as we drove them past Flag Beach then, with 2m waves and wind howling for 4.7! Hobbsy almost bailed at the airport to come back with me (I was winding him up a bit though). At 12, the stragglers- Rod, Alan, Sarah and myself were all at Flag, ready for some jumping action. Alan had his best sail ever, I reckon, we cruised together through the sets, out the back and surfed back in on the same waves. What a pleasure for me to sail in "proper" conditions with a friend who I taught to get into footstraps less than two years previously. Rod also made good progress with his port-tack forwards (he has them fully dialled on starboard), until he had to retire injured......
Anyway, check out Al, Rod and myself on this last video snippet (the airport posse may want to look away at this point). A massive thanks to Sarah for sitting on the windswept beach videoing for two hours.


More Windsurfing Videos
Well, that was it sailing-wise. Couple all that with 2 BBQs, 2 meals out, a birthday party and video night and loads of other stuff, and you have a pretty action-packed week. I, for one, was exhausted by the end but I suppose I am getting on a bit now......
Once again, I´d like to thank everyone who took part and also congratulate them all for their achievements during our week together. Also a massive thanks to Jim from puravida (http://www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk/ ), and his fantastic wife Tanya, for organising their end and for their invaluable help at this end aswell. Looking forward to the next one already, looking like the end of August.

Clinic Update.

Well, it´s all over, everyone shipped out on Saturday morning, leaving me to sift through the 5000 photos and hours of video. Once again, the Puravidaboardriders Fuerte Windsurf Clinic was a huge success, despite below-par conditions for April. I will hopefully get a full report on with videos and pics in the next couple of days so watch this space. Thanks to everyone who came along, once again we had a fantastic bunch of people and I can only hope you all enjoyed as much as I did.

Easter Clinic Update...

So far, so good. Despite a pretty poor forecast, we´ve managed to sail every day but one so far. I´m going to have tons of photos and video to look through before I write up a proper report, so in the meantime check out this short vid of me and Si Hobbs SUPing on the free (windless) day. Si´s first ever go on a SUP so he´s understandably chuffed (and hooked, I reckon).


More Surfing Videos

Back In Action (then back out again).

Well, after a 5 week lay off with the shoulder injury (and an ear and chest infection), I finally got back out on the water this week with the boys from SX Watersports www.sxwatersports.com , who came over to spend a week in the warm. Despite the mixed ability levels of the group we managed to score great conditions for everyone, ranging from lightish wind at Waikiki (ideal for Pete and Mo´s tacking classes), to 35 knots at Sotavento where the advanced sailors, Chris and Mike, got to grips with vulcans and 360s, and Mo overcame that formidable hurdle the waterstart. In the wide range of conditions, everyone´s sailing improved noticeably over the week and I think they were a pretty happy bunch as they dragged themselves onto that aeroplane yesterday- shattered! We even managed to get two sessions of SUPing in on day 3 at Majanicho and Rocky Point, in case they weren´t going to be tired enough as it was... The only downside to a fantastic week of good sailing and great craic was that my shoulder tore again on the last day and it´s agony again, so it´s back to the drawing board- physio and rest to try and be OKish for the Easter Clinic next starting weekend, gonna be a close one. A huge well-done to the four lads who literally gave it their all for six consecutive days and I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did (except for the shoulder bit, obviously)- hope you get some wind soon so you can bust out your new stunts....

Ouch.

This is what my arm looks like 10 days after my shaka crash. I actually only hit my elbow, so don´t know why the rest of the arm hurts so much. The swelling and bruising have gone down a bit now, and I can lift my arm again. I´m off for an x-ray tomorrow morning but it feels like it´s starting to get better (or it could be the jumbo painkillers), so hopefully I´ll be back in action again in a week or so.

Crocked.

As I sit here writng this with one finger of my left hand, I am left to ponder the wisdom of sailing with a slight injury. Last Friday, the wind kicked in for Punta and, although I was struggling a bit with ligament damage in the top of my foot, I was determined to get out there. Topped up with painkillers I hit the water where, after only a few minutes, it was obvious that my foot was too painful to sail properly. Instead of just returning to the beach and heading home like a normal person, I carried on, falling on every move as my foot wouldn´t go in the strap enough then BOOM- I crashed a big shaka, landed on my sail with my elbow and destroyed my shoulder! After almost a week (of constant 4.7 weather at Punta, I must add) of continuous pain and discomfort, the blackness and swelling have just started to subside enough today for me to actually get on with stuff. Still can´t lift my arm though.
Anyway, I´ve been using my time to do some videoing at Punta (torture watching from the beach), so should be able to put together some clips of this week at the weekend. I´ll leave you, in the meantime, with a few shots (thanks Tom/Paula) from the last few days at Punta before my "accident". Please send all grapes, chocolates and flowers to the normal address ...

A bit of everything...

I´ve just got back from a week (in the freezing cold) in the UK visiting friends and family, which was great as always, and while I was away the Fuerteventura Wave Classic was on over here. It looks like once again they had big, big waves but no real wind (pretty typical for February I have to say), which is a shame. They did get some pretty decent video footage though, particularly from Puertito again- it seems as though Yannick was the man of the moment, flying the flag for the local posse. He is definitely the man in waves over here (although you probably haven´t seen much of him as he´s not big into self-promotion and tends to just get out there and do it)- you´ll always find him out wherever the waves are biggest and gnarliest, often alone, and always making it look so easy. Check him out in this short vid...

Fuerte Wave Classic 2011 - Day 10 from ROX Production on Vimeo.

Just before I left for the UK I got my new SUP- a Fanatic Fly 10´, and I had some awesome sessions getting to grips with it. It´s so much fun to be a total beginner at something again. I struggled a little on the first two days due to the wind (I now realise that even the smallest bit of offshore breeze makes it difficult to catch waves on an SUP!), and also due to the fact that I misjudged the size of the waves before going in- 4m is too big for learning, I now know. The last day before I left was amazing though, only me out on the outer reef at Rocky Point, breathless, 25 degrees in shorts, and 2.5m waves. Probably the best surfing I have ever had (not including on a windsurfer obvoiusly!). I am looking forward to more days like this, I would recommend it to everyone.

While I was back, I heard about an indoor wave machine in nearby Gateshead leisure centre and quickly convinced my brother and his kids to book a session together on my last day. What a laugh! We were part of a group of 8 so only really got about 10 minutes each, most of it on a bodyboard in the beginning, but we all got it reasonably dialled in this short space of time (although none of us mastered turning it). My niece, nephew and brother have booked their next one already and will be popping airs and 360s with ease by the time I take my next shaky steps on it, haha. My pa made this short video of our wipeouts, hope you enjoy it...

Looks like some wind is coming for this week so it´s back in the footstraps again, yeehaw. All you people who have been in touch about clinics will be getting emails in the next couple of days, now that I´m back in action so sit tight.
And a last reminder that there are still a couple of places left in our luxury villa for the Puravida Clinic in April which promises to be the best yet. Grab ´em while they´re there....

PuraVida Windsurf Clinic in April!!!!!!!!

It´s been a while since I posted anything on here, not because of a lack of wind (although we did have a 2 week wind drought over xmas and new year), but mainly because I have been laid low for almost the whole of January with an extreme case of "grippe del hombre" (or man-flu). I´ve felt pretty shitty for the entire month, but am starting to feel better now, and with an epic forecast for next week hopefully I´ll be back and get some pics, news and video back on here again.....
Anyway, the real reason for this post is to let everyone know that the Puravida Windsurf Clinic is now on for April!!! Any regular visitors to the island will know that it is one of our best kept local "secrets" that April is normally the best month of the year here for sailing. It´s not uncommon to sail every single day of the month on sails of 5m and less. For that reason we have organised a clinic for intermediates and above from the 16th-23rd April, 2011. If conditions are typical, we should get everything from flatwater blasting in Waikiki, bump n jump/freestyle at Flag Beach, to full-on wavesailing on the northshore- we´ll just pick our spot for the day depending on abilities and personal goals.
The clinic will be run in very much the same way as the September Clinic
http://gibboinfuerte.blogspot.com/2010/09/puravidaboardriders-fuerte-windsurf.html , with the emphasis on sailing, tuition and FUN with BBQs, meals out and a Saturday night party! The accomodation is in two luxury villas
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/canaries/c1619.htm . For more details on this not-to-be-missed event, get in touch with myself or Jim at www.puravidaboardriders.co.uk , places are going fast, (one of the villas is full already!), you will most certainly not be disappointed.

Epic Session...

To top off what has been one of the best Autumn/Winter periods I can remember I scored an epic session at Hierro a few days ago. Trundling along the northtrack on my way to Punta I passed by Hierro to be greeted by the awesome sight of mast-high, perfect sets rolling into this inhospitable spot, with the added bonus in the shape of a flat channel in the middle due to the extra high tide. A couple of friends were rigging and convinced me that it was "doable", so I rigged my 4.7 and, with more than a little trepidation, ventured out for my first ever session here. All I can say is WOW!!!!! The channel made getting out fairly easy (I only had to chicken gybe once!), and you could get some decent ponches and forwards if you timed it well. Once out the back, the sets were lining up constantly and, with only myself and three friends in the water, it was non-stop- wave after perfect wave, fully over powered on 4.7 on the wave but definitely my best sail so far this winter. You can´t beat the thrill of sailing a new spot for the first time, especially when you score it so perfect and with just your friends. A day to remember, thanks to Bob for the photos...

Well, the wind has died off now perfectly coinciding with the arrival of my "xmas friends" who can only look at the photos of the last couple of weeks and pray that the wind-gods send us some similar conditions over the next couple of weeks! The forecast is for some south wind tomorrow so we may get a wee blast at Flag, then I´m hoping we´ll score La Caleta on Wednesday. Let´s hope...

Port Taka...

Anyone who has been following my blog will know that this summer I became moderately obsessed with learning the taka at Punta. I managed to get some level of consistency in the end on starboard tack and was looking forward to trying them out with wind from the left. Anyway, I´m pleased to report that I´ve had a fair degree of success! I´d love to say that I´ve got takas on both tacks but that would imply some sort of consistency/control, so I´ll just say that I have done takas on both tacks now, haha. Still quite chuffed, though. Anyway, check out this one below caught by the camera of Emmanuelle at Punta, you may have to click on it to see it properly.

This morning I scored a super good fun session at my favourite spot again- small waves, shoulder-to-head high, but great fun starboard tack riding with just two others in the water! Epic. The "real" wind is due on Friday so that was just a wee bonus before the proper wind and waves arrive...

A Few More Pics of Last Week´s Action...

Yesterday I got the rest of the pics from last week´s sailing at Punta in the southwesterly "storm". The wind has dropped off now, giving me time to heal a broken toe, and is forecast to return with a vengeance on Friday, from the southwest again, so it´ll be back to Punta and/or La Caleta at the weekend. Enjoy the pics...

Windy,windy,windy!

It´s been a while since I posted anything so you may suspect that there has been a bit of a wind drought over here- au contraire mes amis, we´ve had one of our best winter spells so far and it´s still blowing as I write! Last week we had a bit of a SW storm which brought 35kt winds and a good size swell. La Caleta, Hierro and Punta were the places to be with a couple of decent sessions to be had at Shooting Gallery thrown in for good measure. Photos are filtering in, here are a couple from a day at Punta on my 4.7 Ice and 86 Twin- small waves on this day but great fun with only three in the water and plenty of little ramps about. I should have some more pics up in the next couple of days so watch this space. Oh, and for those of you reading this in the snowbound UK or spanish mainland, it was a cool 30 degrees. Sorry.